It was his love for chemistry that attracted Mark Burton to medicine but it was the challenge pathology posed for him as a medical student that piqued his interest in the specialty. His years as a commissioned officer in the Air Force gave him his first taste of administrative duties. Today, Burton is using both his clinical and managerial experiences in his role as Medical Director of West Tennessee Healthcare System’s Medical Center Laboratory.
Burton grew up in California. His dad was an attorney and his grandfather a surgeon. He had always enjoyed chemistry, which led him to pursue medicine early on. He also had a passion for the German and Japanese languages. His college degree was earned at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. For medical school, Burton turned to the United States Air Force, which allowed him to earn his degree with no debt at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland where he spent all four years as a commissioned officer.
“Pathology was the most challenging in that there was so much to learn. It is the basis of medicine and most clinical decisions are based on it. I focused on it and did well,” said Burton. “When my clinical rotations started to bore me, I gravitated back to pathology and was always following things down to the lab to be in that environment. I also had five kids and pathology was a residency that allowed me to be home at reasonable hours and be involved with my kids.”
His post medical school training would take him to San Antonio, where he would spend the next twelve years. His fellowship in hematology and molecular diagnostics at the University of Texas Health Science Center was completed in 1997. During his training, he also completed a rotating surgical pathology fellowship with an emphasis on neuropathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 1997 and a five-year combined anatomic and clinical pathology residency at the Air Force’s flagship hospital, Wilford Hall Medical Center. He remained on staff at Wilford Hall for seven more years during which time he managed the Air Force’s Pathology Services worldwide as a consultant to the Surgeon General, directed the largest pathology residency program in the Department of Defense, as well as built its first molecular clinical laboratory.
Although he is still a reservist in the Air Force, after 12 years, Burton knew it was time for a change. His job search took him to Jackson, Tennessee and West Tennessee Healthcare. “I had a friend, Jeff Sims, who was here. I interviewed and was sold on it immediately. We loved the town, the hospital and the educational opportunities here for our children,” he said. “So eleven years ago, we moved.”
At the time Burton joined the staff, the hospital had just built a forensic toxicology lab and was looking to bring in a molecular pathology lab. A new two-story stand-alone facility was also under construction that would allow laboratory services to move from the basement of Jackson Madison County General Hospital. The new state of the art facility included the latest technological advancements in anatomic and clinical diagnostics. Over the next few years, the lab underwent more changes and seven years ago Burton was asked to take over as Medical Director.
Today, Medical Center Laboratory reports 40 million results annually. The service includes five separate clinical laboratories under its umbrella and provides services for 22 locations including nine clinics, nursing homes as well as extensive outreach and currier services. The lab also covers affiliate hospitals in Bolivar, Camden and Gibson Hospital, the Lift Center, Kirkland Cancer Center as well as manages and directs lab services for smaller clinics across West Tennessee. The lab is also responsible performing autopsies.
In addition to his role as Medical Director, Burton is also the Department Chair. As Medical Director, he has direct responsibility for the molecular lab, histology and toxicology services as well as MedSouth Clinical Laboratory in Dyersburg. Due to state regulations, Burton can manage no more than three labs, so supervision of the remaining laboratory services are split between his five partners. “As Medical Director, I am the final arbitrator for the lab and am ultimately liable and accountable for every result and report that goes out from the lab,” said Burton, who also serves as president of Jackson Pathology Group, PC. “We are a very large department in terms of staff, but we work very well together to communicate successfully. The lab is the basis of medicine as about 80 percent of all clinical decisions are based on data, biopsy and lab results. It is our findings that allow the physicians and specialists to make decisions regarding their patient and their treatment. We give clinical staff and patients the most accurate, precise and cost effective testing we can. I think we do it very well and provide great customer service.”
Technology is constantly evolving in the lab as it is across other health disciplines. “We work closely with administration. We trust one another and value the other’s opinions,’ said Burton. “We meet weekly to evaluate new technology and testing practices. When vendors or physicians push for new or different tests, it is our job to determine the best and most cost effective. We develop relationships with others labs to perform tests that may be too expensive for us to run in-house. Finding what is right for the patient, clinicians, administration and the institution can be challenging, because they do not always line up with one another. I have to find middle ground to adjudicate those difficult shores and waters.”
Heading one of the largest departments in the system is something Burton finds fun and exciting. “We have 380 staff members, five full time and one part time anatomic and clinical pathologists who are all board certified or sub-specialty trained. We work with every medical specialty and have to be able to interact with them on their level 24/7,” he said. “It can be an overwhelming area, but everyday I am learning and growing.
The lab is the most highly regulated department in medicine. “We are accredited by the Collage of American Pathologists, which is the gold standard of testing,” said Burton. “They send a team in every couple of years to look at our program and every team that has come in is blown away at the phenomenal facility we have.”
Being able to balance family, church and his career is something Burton is very proud of. “I have five great kids, two are married. They live in Arizona, Singapore, LA, Pennsylvania and my youngest is about to embark on a two-year mission trip,” said Burton, who is also collaborating with five of the top pathologists in the country to author and edit resource guides in addition to publishing several academic articles. “My military background and church involvement have played a big role in helping me to be a good manager and counselor across all aspects of my life. I hope to make a difference here. Every day I am scratching my head at how exciting and exhilarating I find my job and yet I still get to go home and nice life.”
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